


The Doctor's Daughter

by ellipsisthegreat



Series: Bedtime Story!Verse [2]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-11
Updated: 2010-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-13 15:32:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellipsisthegreat/pseuds/ellipsisthegreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of 'The Adventures of Dr. Bones and Jamie,' wherein the crew witnesses more father-daughter moments, and try to convince Bones to tell more of the story…</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doctor's Daughter

_**DISCLAIMER** : Star Trek and everything affiliated with it belongs to Gene Roddenberry, JJ Abrams, and all of the other awesome people who own it. All I own is the plot…_

"…And the rest is a story for another night." Bones says.

"What?" Jim shrieks, jolted out of the fantasy world Bones' voice had taken him to while telling them the story of 'Dr. Bones and Jamie.' "Now, hold on, Bones, you can't just stop there! You can't just _stop_! What happens to Jamie? Does he get expelled? _Come on_ , man; cruel and unusual punishment was outlawed over a century ago!"

Bones rolls his eyes. "Look, you wanted me to tell the damn story, and I'm telling it. But I'll tell it on my own damn time and in my own damn way, and if I tell much more I'm gonna go hoarse!" Indeed, his voice sounds a little scratchier than usual. Then he grunts and plops down onto the couch next to Jim. "And, anyhow, if you really did watch me telling Joanna the story, you already heard the next part."

Jim pouts. "But I wanted to see you swordfight again."

"I'm a doctor, dammit, not a swordfighter." Bones says. "If you wanna see sword fighting, talk to Sulu."

"I was rather impressed by you, actually, Doctor." Sulu says, shifting a little so that he could look over at the other couch where Jim and Bones were sitting. "I mean, you probably couldn't win in a fight against someone who's been trained, but you could put up a good fight."

Bones snorts. "'Course I couldn't. I've never used a sword in my entire life. All the tumbling around and stuff's just…" He trails off, looking away from them and rubbing his neck. "My sister roped me into taking gymnastics with her when I was a kid, and I've kept up with some of it to keep in shape."

"Gymnastics? Really?" Uhura asks, surprised by the admission.

"Yeah." Bones shrugs. "Used to be pretty limber when I was younger, but that all stopped once I got to med school and lost whatever free time I'd ever had to studying and writing papers and all of the other joys that come with being a doctor."

"Huh." Jim says, cocking his head to one side thoughtfully.

He looks like he wants to make a comment—which would probably have been less 'comment' and more 'sexual proposition'—but it's at this moment that a Security Ensign opens the door.

"Um, Dr. McCoy?" The ensign says.

"Yeah?" Bones sits up a little, wondering why they didn't page him if it was something in medical, but Joanna pushes past the ensign before he can ask. She's full-out bawling, and flings herself into his chest as soon as she sees him.

"She was wandering the hallways outside of your rooms, sir." The ensign says when Bones levels him with a hard glare.

Bones purses his lips together, but a sob from Joanna has his face softening so much that they hardly recognize him. He puts his arms around her, one hand holding her close while the other pats her hair soothingly.

"Baby, baby, what's wrong?" He asks, kissing the top of her head as he rocks her back and forth. Somehow, his accent is a thousand times more evident than usual.

She shakes her head and says something that's completely incomprehensible due to both her crying and the fact that her face is buried in Bones' neck as she clings to him.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Bones asks, and she nods. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm here now, baby, it's okay. Daddy's here, shh."

The others are all watching with wide eyes; the ensign leaves before Bones can start glaring at him, again, if for nothing else than for catching him in such an intimate moment with his daughter.

Joanna pulls back, looking up at Bones with a heartbreakingly accusing expression on her face. "You weren't there. I was so scared and I went to your room and you weren't there, Daddy." She says, and then puts her arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm so, so sorry." Bones says, clutching her tightly to his chest. "Was it really scary?"

She nods and hiccups.

"Was it a monster?" He asks.

She shakes her head. "I was back on Earth and you were here and there was a big fight and the ship ran into something and it blew up!" She blurts out. "What am I gonna do if you die, Daddy? I already hardly ever get to see you, since you and Mommy don't love each other no more." She bursts into a fresh bout of tears. "And if you die I'll never get to see you again! I _hate_ space, Daddy!"

"Aw, baby." He says, his heart visibly breaking.

"I want you to come home." She sobs into his chest. "I want you to come _home_!"

Watching him try to comfort her, and hearing her words, Jim is struck with the selfish wish that he had never brought her onboard. Because it's obvious that Bones will do absolutely anything for his baby girl, and how will Jim do anything without him?

"Listen, baby," Bones says, grabbing a tissue from the table next to him and wiping her tears away, "has your mama told you how important promises are?"

Joanna sniffles loudly, looking as confused by his question as everyone else feels. "Mommy says it's real important to keep any promises you make, and that you shouldn't make a promise you can't keep."

"She's exactly right." Bones says. "And I made a promise to Starfleet that I'd be a doctor for them for five years. I wish I could break it, baby, because your happiness is one of the most important things in the world to me. But I promised, and I ain't the kind to go back on a promise."

She nods slowly.

"You know I'd do anything I could for you, darlin'." He says. "But if I break one promise, chances are I'd break another one, too, and then another and another."

"I understand, Daddy." She says, downtrodden.

"I tell you what, though." He says. "I've already been working for Starfleet for two out of the five years I promised 'em. So when my term is up in three years, if you still want me to come home, I will. I won't even hesitate. I can't move back in with you and Mommy—Mommy's fallin' in love with someone else, now, so that ain't fair to her. But I'll…teach at the Academy, or open up a private practice, and you can come visit me anytime you want. Okay?"

"Pinky promise?" She asks, holding up a pinky.

He latches his own pinky into hers. "Cross my heart."

She seems satisfied with this for a moment, then her eyebrows furrow again. "But what happens if you die before then?"

"Lemme tell you a secret." He says, and cups his hand around his mouth and her ear, whispering something to her that not even Jim, who leans toward them from the other side of the couch, can hear. When he pulls away, though, she is smiling.

"Okay." She says, and leans back against his chest with a content sigh.

"You wanna try gettin' back to sleep, now, punkie doodle?" Bones asks.

Her eyes widen as her earlier fears return and she shakes her head, clutching to his neck tightly.

"Alright, alright, you little monkey." Bones chuckles. "No need for you to cling like that."

She pouts at him, then settles into him again. "What were y'all talkin' about?"

"Your dad was just being a _giant jerk_ and refusing to tell us anymore about Jamie and Dr. Bones." Jim pipes up before Bones can answer, giving the surly doctor a pout of his own.

Joanna gasps. "He's telling you guys my bedtime story?"

"Not anymore, apparently." Chekov says.

Another gasp, this one indignant. " _Daddy_! Shame on you! You can't just stop in the middle of the story! You gotta tell 'em the rest!" She says.

"I never said I was gonna stop." Bones says, holding his hands up in the face of his daughter's ire. "I just stopped for the night."

"What part are you at?" Joanna asks, looking at the others to get her answer. "Did you get to the part about Jamie gettin' marooned at the South Pole?"

"Jamie gets marooned?" Sulu asks. He has a smile on his face like he's really trying to sound like he didn't know that was going to happen.

Joanna nods. "That's one of my favorite parts!"

"So you've already heard this story, Joanna?" Uhura asks.

"Yep! It's my favorite." Joanna says. "He tells me fairytales and stuff, sometimes, but I like the stories about Dr. Bones and Jamie the best!" She becomes very excited, suddenly, as an idea comes to her. "Daddy, can we all listen to the story together? We can have a big slumber party with popcorn and s'mores and I can braid Miss Uhura's hair and I can paint Unc…I mean, Captain Jim's nails and _you_ can tell us all about Jamie and Dr. Bones and Mr. Kingsley and everybody else and it'll be the bestest, most _awesome_ thing ever in the entire universe!" She clasps her hands together, giving Bones a puppy dog look to rival Chekov's. "Please oh please oh _please_ , Daddy?"

"Yeah, Dad, can we?" Jim says with a snicker, fluttering his eyelashes at Bones.

"Don't you start, Jim." Bones hisses. "And I'm sorry, sweetie, but I think everyone here except you is a bit too old for slumber parties."

"If they ain't too old for bedtime stories, then they ain't too old for slumber parties" Joanna insists. "C'mon, Daddy, pretty please with sugar on top?"

"I think it sounds fun, Doctor." Uhura says.

"Da—darn it, I'm a doctor, not an entertainer!" Bones says, and actually looks to _Spock_ , of all people, for help. "Tell them this is…is _illogical_."

"On the contrary, Doctor, I find that I am…curious to hear the rest of the story." Spock says. "And it would, perhaps, boost morale and camaraderie among the crew."

" _Motherfu_ —" Bones begins, then stands, setting Joanna down. "No. Just…just _no_."

And then, red and flustered and sputtering, he storms out of the room.

Joanna giggles and rolls her eyes. "I'll talk him into it. He's a sucker for crocodile tears." She assures them, beginning to follow after him. Then she pauses, turns, and runs over to where Sulu is sitting, throwing her arms around him in a chaste hug.

"Er…?" Sulu says.

"Daddy says you guys won't crash 'cuz you're the best helmsman in the whole wide universe." Joanna explains as she pulls away. "Just like Captain—" She cuts herself off with a frown and looks at Jim. "Captain Jim, is it okay if I call you Uncle Jim, instead? Since you're Daddy's best friend, and all?"

Uhura wonders if she should mark today on her calendar as 'The Day a Girl Made Jim Kirk Blush.'

"Sure you can, Joanna." Jim says, a huge smile stretching across his face.

"You can call me Jo." She says, then looks back at Sulu and continues where she'd left off as if there hadn't been a pause in their conversation. "Just like Uncle Jim is the best captain and Mr. Spock's the best First Officer, and all the rest of you guys are the best at what you do."

"Oh." Sulu says, rather touched by the sentiment (especially coming from their grumpy, aviophobic doctor). "Well, um, thanks?"

"Bless your heart," she laughs, "I'm just telling you he said so, that way you know I'm holdin' you responsible for bringin' him home to me. Well, you and Uncle Jim." She smiles brightly. "And if you don't, I'll kill you. 'Kay? So drive safe and don't crash!"

Then she turns and trounces out of the room.

All is quiet for a moment.

"She is definitely the doctor's daughter, yes?" Chekov asks, eyes wide.

They all nod.

Jim decides he really _is_ glad he brought her on board.

After all, it wasn't very often you got to hear from a first-hand source that someone as irascible as Bones considers you his best friend.

The End.


End file.
